Gov. Humerlito A. Dolor has approved an ordinance prohibiting sand mining and dredging in the coastline and municipal waters of the province, ending speculations that he was supporting large-scale seabed mining and other forms of destructive extraction of minerals from coastal areas.

Dolor recently signed Sangguniang Panlalawigan Ordinance 197-2025 during a livestream broadcast thru social media in the presence of provincial government department heads at the provincial capitol in Calapan City.

The governor was fuming mad at the way he and his senior staff were treated at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan during a budget deliberations on that day for the proposed annual investment program (AIP) of the province.

“I hope that this will end all hearsays that I am the proponent of large-scale commercial sea dredging which are being peddled as fake news by hired trolls,” Dolor said.

At the hearing, the governor presented the proposed allocation for each department which were scrutinized in detail by Board Member Manny Buenaventura, a known political nemesis of the governor in the provincial council.

When the budget for an educational program was being discussed, Buenaventura pitched questions which the governor treated as “out of topic” that prompted him and his department chiefs to walk out from the committee proceedings.

“We were discussing the scholarship of youth beneficiaries and yet Board Member Buenaventura cited unrelated topics such as river restoration and large-scale dredging,” Dolor said.

Buenaventura criticized the AIP as only a “wish list” short of being realistic, measurable, achievable.

He said Dolor should have answered his questions instead of walking out from the deliberations.

“I did not insert the issue on dredging. I just asked specific questions in the overall context of the situation of the province which include the issue on dredging,” Buenaventura said in a privilege speech on Oct. 13 during the regular session of SP.

Buenaventura said the narrative of the AIP should include concrete objectives and specific target dates that are rooted from the basic problems of Mindorenos like poverty, electricity rates, and regular brownouts and river restoration plan that could affect the environment.

“Poverty alleviation must be the end goal of the AIP and if it were otherwise it is just a mere scrap of paper,” Buenaventura said.

Buenaventura praised the governor for signing the ordinance but still urged him to ask the proper government agencies to totally rescind all operating permits or clearances of the controversial river dredging project.